Day Eighteen of the 2019 A-Z Challenge in which I am participating during the month of April. The challenge is to post six days a week, Sunday respite or catching up with other participants and their posts. Each of the twenty-six days represents a letter of the alphabet and while each post stands alone they form part of a loose theme reflecting our retirement trip around Australia. Today our posts are relevant to the letter R.
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Roads in Australia are managed by State and Federal Government agencies reliant on funding from these sources. High capacity roads are bituminised and adequately maintained to keep freight and people moving around the country.
Get off the main trunk system and the scenario changes. Roading differs from state to state, noticeable when doing long distances especially away from the metropolitan centres. Head into rural and outback Australia and not only do the conditions of the roads start to vary dramatically, the surface can be markedly different.
We moan about the state of the roads here in the UK, but I suspect they aren’t a fraction as bad as the secondary roads in OZ – they are all bituminised here except for tracks up to farm etc. sometimes. But then… we are so small, in comparison! I have been told that roads in the US use a higher grade of tarmac than here which lasts longer and which is more able to withstand extremes of temperature. Here, the contracts are put out to tender and the lowest bid taken, which of course means inferior materials. We have a winding road on a steep hill near us and the tarmac becomes potholed every year. You’d think they’d get that a better tarmac would be more cost-effective… but no! ~Liz http://www.poetryroundabout.com
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Beautiful roads. Roads are so romantic to me; I feel the call of the open road just looking at your photos. Those rural roads are in pretty good shape. Some of the rural roads in the U,S, are more pothole than road,
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We do have those but we’re usually busy negotiating our way there isn’t time for photos
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